If you have just ordered your brand-new leather sofa, you should be proud and happy with your acquisition. You will soon have a sofa that could potentially last you a lifetime and will only look better from here on in. This special piece of furniture will also get more comfortable and more elegant as the years go by.
To ensure that your beautiful leather sofa is a thing of beauty forever, it will need special care and attention. Many people assume that leather is a very high maintenance material, but if it is done right and from an enlightened perspective the task is easy and cost-effective.
With this in mind, we have put together this simple guide to keeping your leather furniture in excellent condition. Just follow the advice here and you will be proud of your beautiful leather couch as you enjoy it for the foreseeable future.
When given the proper care and attention, leather is a tough and durable material that will get better with time. Nevertheless, without a proper cleaning, it can begin to look worn out.
You will need to set some time aside once or twice a week to take good care of your leather furniture, but if you are taking care of a leather sofa that sees a high amount of traffic, you may need to address the needs of this sofa twice a week. Make sure the cleaning is applied across the entire sofa evenly or you will begin to find that some parts of the sofa change color and this is not a good thing. You don’t want to end up with mismatching upholstery.
Follow these steps
- Begin by taking out a soft cloth and gently brushing away all dust, dirt and contaminants from the surface of the sofa. Make sure you get into all the nooks and crannies and use a vacuum when needed.
- Next use a damp cloth to ensure the smallest particles of dust are also removed. For best results, use distilled water, because chlorinated water can begin to slowly damage the delicate finish on the surface of the leather. Before you do this for the first time, apply the damp cloth to a hidden corner of the sofa and see how the leather reacts to the damp cloth. Remember that you don’t want to wet the sofa, use a cloth with the slightest bit of moisture only and ensure that the leather doesn’t absorb any liquids.
- Once every two to four weeks, depending on the amount of use your sofa sees, you will want to use a specialized leather care agent to treat the sofa. Don’t use any of these all-purpose cleaners you see advertised on the market, because chemicals can severely damage your sofa, instead make sure you use a soft cleaner that is specially designed to be used on leather. We provide a Soft Cleaner for Leather in all our leather care kits and this can be safely used on leather of all types including, aniline, semi aniline and pigmented leathers.
- Allow your sofa time to dry completely before using it, and don’t sit on the sofa while it is being cleaned, this will prevent your sofa from developing creases that form when the leather is at this vulnerable stage. You can speed up the process by ensuring there is good ventilation while you are working on the cleaning process.
Finally, be very careful that you do not use any fabrics that have dyes that could be inadvertently transferred to the sofa. We recommend choosing something that is white or of a very light color. Furthermore, be sure to check the warning labels of any fabrics you are considering for cleaning your leather sofa.